Establishing a Global Market
The European Parliament has recently voted on key changes to the Renewable Energy Directive II. The changes include new renewable fuel targets for industry, scrapping the “additionality” clause, and easing temporal & geographical restrictions on electricity PPAs for hydrogen production. A new, €3 billion Hydrogen Bank has also been announced in a bid to close the investment gap in Europe.
Korea Zinc, Hanwha Impact, SK Gas and Australia-based Ark Energy will work together to build a million-tonne-per-year renewable ammonia supply chain between Korea and Australia by 2032. Ark Energy’s renewable energy portfolio in Queensland will be leveraged for ammonia production, with the three South Korean organisations acting as offtakers. The announcement comes as the Qld state government launches an ambitious new energy plan, which will support the addition of 20-plus GW of renewable energy generation to Qld’s grid.
At Vlissingen in the Netherlands, Uniper & Vesta Terminals will explore the feasibility of developing a new ammonia import hub in northwest Europe, based on Vesta’s existing 60,000m3 ammonia storage facility. Also this week, Proton Ventures is currently developing a state-of-the-art ammonia export terminal for an oil & gas major in the UAE, which will feature the “biggest ammonia tanks ever built in the Middle East”.
New US CCS ammonia announcements include: a new million-tonne-per-year facility for OCI in Texas, a new $2 billion production facility for CF Industries and Mitsui & Co. in Louisiana, multi-million-tonnes-per-year of production output for JERA, ConocoPhillips and Uniper on the Gulf Coast spread over multiple export projects, and FID reached for OCI’s decarbonisation project in Iowa.
The number of renewable hydrogen-based projects planned for the Suez Canal Economic Zone has now reached fifteen. Of the seven new MoUs signed in late August, four are targeting renewable ammonia production. Saudi-based alfanar, African energy developer Globeleq, Mediterranean Energy Partners and renewable energy developer Actis are all planning renewable ammonia production plants, with ACME Group also signing an MoU for a multi-million tonne renewable hydrogen plant in the SCZONE.
Last month, four significant production projects were announced in Canada’s maritime provinces: